The
KING has been pleased to approve of the Albert Medal
of
the Second Class being conferred upon Michael
Sullivan Keogh, Chief Petty
Officer, H.M.S. Ark Royal, in recognition of his
gallantry in endeavouring to
save life as detailed below: —

On
the
19th August, 1915,
an aeroplane piloted by the late
Captain C. H. Collet,
D.S.O., R.M.A., was ascending
from Imbros Aerodrome,
and had reached a height of
15ft feet when the engine stopped. The machine was
upset by the powerful air
currents from the cliffs, and fell vertically to the
ground, while the petrol
carried burst into flames which immediately
enveloped the aeroplane and pilot.

Chief
Petty Officer Keogh, upon arriving at the scene of
the
accident at once made an attempt to save Captain Collet
by dashing into the midst of the wreckage, which was
a mass of flames. He had
succeeded in dragging the fatally injured officer
nearly clear of the flames;
when he was himself overcome by the burns which he
had received from the
blazing petrol.

The
London
Gazette 19 May 1916
(from Whitehall,
May
18, 1916)

The
KING was pleased, on Wednesday, the 17th instant, at
Buckingham Palace, to present to Chief Petty Officer
Michael Sullivan Keogh,
R.N.A.S., late of H.M.S. Ark Royal, the Albert Medal
of the Second Class which
was conferred upon him for gallantry in endeavouring
to save the life of
Captain C. H. Collet,
D.S.O., R.M.A., on the occasion
of an aeroplane accident at the Island of Imbros
on
the 19th August, 1915. Full particulars are set
forth in the notice appearing
in the London Gazette of the 14th January last.

The
KING was pleased, on Saturday, the 8th instant, at
Buckingham Palace, to present to
Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Richard Shaw
Warden, R.N., the Albert Medal of the First Class,
which was conferred upon him
by His Majesty for gallantry in saving life, as
detailed below:

On
the morning of the 26th October, 1915, the Orderly
Officer on duty at the BassinLoubet,
Boulogne, was informed
that a fire had broken out in
the after hold of the S.S. Maine, Ammunition Ship,
in which a quantity of high
explosives was stowed, and he at once reported the
fact to Lieutenant-Commander
Warden, at the Office of the Naval Transport
Officer.

In
the meantime the ship was abandoned by her officers
and
crew, and steps were taken by the local fire brigade
to rig the shore fire
hoses. Lieutenant-Commander Warden immediately
proceeded on board, and on
arrival at the after hold found smoke issuing from
between the high explosive
cases in the centre of the hatch. He went down into
the hold, lifted up one of
the cases, and called for the fire hose, which was
passed to him by Private
Edward Gimble, 1st
Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, who
had followed him on board. This
case, and the one next to it,
were alight on their adjacent sides.
Lieutenant-Commander Warden played
the hose on them and extinguished the fire.
Subsequent investigation showed
that the fire was in all probability due to the
ignition by friction or
spontaneous combustion of amorphous phosphorus,
which had leaked from boxes
containing that substance stowed above the cases
containing the high explosives.

There
is little doubt that the prompt and gallant action
of
Lieutenant-Commander Warden prevented an explosion
which would have had serious
and possibly disastrous results with almost certain
loss of life.

The
Albert Medal of the Second Class has been awarded to
Private Gimble.

The
London
Gazette 12
May, 1916
(from Whitehall,
May
11, 1916)

The
KING was pleased, on Wednesday, the 10th instant, at
Buckingham Palace, to present to Private Edward Gimble,
1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, who was home on
leave from France, the
Albert Medal of the Second Class, which was
conferred upon him for gallantry in
saving life on the occasion of an outbreak of fire
on the Ammunition Ship Maine
at Boulogne, on the
26th October, 1915. Full
particulars are set forth in the notice appearing in
the London Gazette of the
18th April last.

1
9 1 6

28
March 1916- Lieutenant Robert STARTIN RN, HMS
Melpomene,
Harwich

(ex-Greek M-class destroyer, above
- sister ship HMS Melampus (NP))

The
London
Gazette 9
May, 1916
(from the Admiralty, 6th
May, 1916)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal of the Second Class
on: —

Lieutenant
Robert Arthur Startin,
R.N.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred: —

During
the violent gale and snowstorm on the night of the
28th
March, 1916,
the whaler of H.M.S. Melpomene,
with a crew
of six men, was driven by the blizzard on to the mud
about of a mile up the
river above the Parkstone
Jetty, Harwich. Lieut. Startin,
on hearing that the whaler was missing, set out
alone to search along the river bed. After wading
through deep mud, at times up
to his armpits, for a distance of about 300 yards,
he eventually found the
whaler, half full of water, aground on the mud, with
her crew lying helpless in
the boat, having given up all hope of being rescued.
He only succeeded in
rousing them by beating them with his stick, one man
having to be forcibly
dragged all the way to the shore by Lieut. Startin
and the coxswain of the boat. After dragging him for
about an hour, a distance
of about 40 or 50 yards had been covered, when a
light was seen moving inshore.
Lieut. Startin ordered
the crew to remain where they
where whilst he went to the light, which proved to
be carried by a search party
with a rope. This rope was taken backwards and
forwards personally by Lieut. Startin
from the shore to the boat's crew until each one
had been rescued, this exhausting and dangerous task
in the deep mud being
performed under the most trying weather conditions.
All the crew were thus
saved, though one afterwards died from the effects
of exposure.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to award the
Decoration
of the Albert Medal in recognition of the gallantry
of Petty
Officer Alfred Place,
late of the Royal Navy. The
circumstances are as follows:—

At
Blandford, on the
16th
June, 1916,
during grenade practice, a live bomb thrown by one
of the men under
instruction fell back into the trench. Petty
Officer Place
rushed forward, pulled back two men
who were in front of him and attempted to reach the
grenade with the intention
of throwing it over the parapet.

Unfortunately
the bomb exploded before he could reach it and
inflicted fatal injuries. By his coolness and
self-sacrifice Petty
Officer Place
probably saved the lives of three
other men.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred: —

During
the transhipment of the crew of H.M.S. Warrior to
H.M.S. Engadine on the
morning of the 1st of June,
1916, succeeding the naval battle off the coast of
Jutland, one of the severely
wounded, owing to the violent motion of the two
ships, was accidentally dropped
overboard from a stretcher and fell between the
ships. As the ships were
working most dangerously, the Commanding Officer of
the Warrior had to forbid
two of his officers from jumping overboard to the
rescue of the wounded man, as
he considered that it would mean their almost
certain death.

Before
he could be observed, however, Lieutenant Rutland,
of
H.M.S. Engadine, went
overboard from the forepart of that ship with a
bowline, and worked himself aft. He succeeded in
putting the bowline around the wounded man and in
getting him hauled on board, but it was then found
that the man was dead, having been crushed between
the two ships. Lieutenant Rutland's escape from a
similar fate was miraculous.
His bravery is reported to have been magnificent.

The
KING has been pleased to award the Decoration of the
Albert Medal to Lieutenant John Neale,
Royal Naval
Volunteer Reserve, in recognition of his gallantry
in saving life at Esher
in August, 1916. The circumstances
are as follows: —

On
the
25th August, 1916,
Lieutenant Neale
was conducting certain experiments which
involved the projection from a
Stokes Mortar of a tube containing flare-power. An
accident occurred rendering
imminent the explosion of the tube before leaving
the mortar which would almost
certainly have resulted in the bursting of the
mortar with loss of life to
bystanders. Lieutenant Neale,
in order to safeguard
the lives of the working party, at once attempted to
lift the tube from the
mortar. It exploded while he was doing so with the
result that he was severely
injured, but owing to the fact that he had partly
withdrawn the tube from the
mortar no injury was caused to others.

The
London
Gazette 30
January, 1917
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal of the Second Class
upon Mr. Joseph Conolly,
Third Engineer of the steamship Vanellus,
of Cork.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:
—

On
the
1st October, 1916,
the steamship Vanellus,
of Cork,
struck a mine in Havre Roads, and
the vessel, which was laden with petrol, immediately
burst into flames. Owing
to the rapidity with which the flames spread it was
impossible to clear away
the boats, and most of the crew jumped overboard.
Three lives were lost by the
casualty.

Although
the engine-room telegraph was broken by the
explosion Mr. Conolly
remained at his post in the
engine-room until everyone else had left the ship.
He kept the engines working
astern, and thus made it possible for a lifeboat to
be lowered on the port
side, and by this means a number of lives were
saved. Before finally leaving
the ship he again went below and stopped the
engines.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred: —

H.M.S.
Zulu was mined on the
8th November,
1916.
As a
result of the explosion the bottom of the after part
of the engine room was
blown out, and the whole compartment reduced to a
mass of debris and broken
steam and water pipes.

Immediately
after the explosion Joyce and Kimber
proceeded to the engine room, the former having just
come off watch. The latter had just left the boiler
room, after he had seen
that the oil-burners were shut off and everything
was in order, and had sent
his hands on deck.

Hearing
the sound of moans coming from inside the engine
room,
they both attempted to enter it by the foremost
hatch and ladder. As the heat
in the engine room was intense and volumes of steam
were coming up forward,
they then lifted one of the square ventilating
hatches further aft on the top
of the engine room casing (port side) and climbed
into the rapidly flooding
compartment over the steam pipes, which were
extremely hot.

Scrambling
over the debris, they discovered well over on the
starboard side Stoker Petty Officer Smith, with his
head just out of the water.

A
rope was lowered from the upper deck, and with great
difficulty Smith, who was entangled in fractured
pipes and other wreckage, was
hauled up alive.

At
the same time Stoker Petty Officer Powell was found
floating, in the water on the port side of the
engine room. The rope was
lowered again and passed around Powell, who,
however, was found to be dead on
reaching the deck. The water was so high that
further efforts to discover the
remaining Artificer left in the engine room would
have been useless, and the
attempt had to be abandoned.

(1)
The London
Gazette 7
September, 1917
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal upon Mr. James
Campbell Hurry, master of the
steamship Earl of Forfar, of Glasgow.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:
—

On
the
8th November, 1916,
while the steamship Earl of
Forfar, of Glasgow,
was lying at Archangel,
a fire broke out on a Russian
steamship and spread to the Earl of Forfar, which
was lying immediately ahead,
Captain Hurry, who was on shore, attempted to return
to his vessel, but he was
unable to do so. He proceeded, however, to render
assistance to other vessels
which were in danger of being burnt.

While
doing so, he heard voices coming from his own ship,
which was burning and exploding furiously. Calling
for volunteers, he led them
on board his steamer, and seven injured men were
rescued, some of whom he
personally carried to a tug.

While
thus engaged considerable risk was incurred by
Captain
Hurry, who had to lift several live shells from the
deck of the vessel in order
to get at the wounded.

Within
ten minutes of the last man being rescued the deck
blew up.

(2)
The London
Gazette 5
February, 1918
(from the Admiralty)

The
KING has been
pleased to approve of the award of the Albert Medal
to Lieutenant (acting
Lieutenant-Commander) Maurice MacMahon,
R.N.R., for
gallantry in saving life at sea.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
8th November, 1916,
a series of fires and explosions
occurred at Bakaritsa,
Port
of Archangel.
After the merchant ships had been
got away from the wharves, cries and moans were
heard from the direction of a
100-ton floating crane moored between the S.S. Earl
of Forfar and the quay. The
Earl of Forfar was on fire fore and aft, and it was
obvious that any attempt to
save life must be accompanied by the greatest risk,
the ship having explosives
on board and the quay abreast it burning furiously
with intermittent explosions
from small arm ammunition.

Lieutenant-Commander
MacMahon,
without a moment's hesitation, volunteered to carry
out rescue work, although
other rescue parties considered that they had
already done all that was humanly
possible. In order to reach the floating crane it
was necessary to cross the
Earl of Forfar, the after part of which had blown
up, whilst the forepart was
on fire and the forecastle was a mass of smouldering
debris. Hearing moans from
under the debris of the forecastle,
Lieutenant-Commander MacMahon,
with the aid of the crew of a tug, cleared away the
wreckage and discovered the
mate, with one arm, one leg, and collar-bone
fractured. This man was extricated
and passed into the tug. Lieutenant-Commander MacMahon
then proceeded on to the floating crane by means of
a singe plank and rescued
from beneath the debris of the crane the carpenter
of the Earl of Forfar and
two Russian subjects, part of the crane's crew.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award
of the Albert Medal to Captain George Parker Bevan,
C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N., for gallantry in saving life
at sea.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
8th November, 1916,
a series of explosions and fires
occurred at Bakaritsa,
Port
of Archangel,
on merchant ships and on the
wharves. The S.S. Baron Driesen
had blown up at 1
p.m.
and part of the S.S.
Earl of Forfar forty minutes later, and fresh
explosions were expected every
instant. It was thought that all their crews had
either escaped or been killed
or rescued, but after dark cries of distress were
heard from the Earl of
Forfar. The ship was a mass of flame at the time,
and burning embers from the
fire which was raging on shore were continually
showered over her. She had a
cargo of explosives on board and was abreast of the
main conflagration. The
flames were blown towards her by the wind, and the
remaining portion of the
ship was expected to be blown up at any moment.
Captain Bevan,
however, on hearing the cries proceeded on board,
accompanied by Lieutenant-Commander
MacMahon, and, hearing
moans from under the
smouldering debris of the forecastle, cleared away
the wreckage and extricated
the mate, who had an arm and a leg and his
collarbone broken, and passed him
into a tug.

Captain
Bevan displayed the
utmost
gallantry and disregard of his personal safety.

The
KING has further been graciously pleased to approve
of
the award of the Albert Medal to

Lieutenant
Edward Henry Richardson, R.N.R.,

2nd
Engineer Christopher Watson,

A.B.
James Dixon
Henry, and

A.B.
Malcolm Thompson, for gallantry
in saving life at sea.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
8th November, 1916,
a series of fires and explosions
occurred at Bakaritsa,
Port
of Archangel,
on merchant ships and on the
wharves. The S.S. Baron Driesen
had blown up at 1
p.m.
and part of the S.S. Earl of Forfar
forty minutes later. The latter ship, with a cargo
of explosives, was on fire,
and might have blown up at any moment, and
explosions were continually taking
place in the immediate vicinity. The ship was
alongside the main fire on shore,
and burning embers were constantly showered over
her. Lieutenant Richardson,
2nd Engineer Watson and Able Seamen Henry and
Thompson, of the Tug Sunderland,
nevertheless volunteered to board the Earl of Forfar
and effected
the rescue of a considerable number of wounded and
helpless men who would
otherwise have perished.

They
displayed the utmost gallantry and disregard of
their
own personal safety in saving the lives of others.

The
London
Gazette 27
March 1917
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens,
23rd
March, 1917)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal of the
First Class upon Mr. Peter Thomson,
Second Officer of the steamship Polpedn,
of London.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been
conferred:
—

On
the
14th November, 1916,
the steamship Polpedn,
of London,
was torpedoed in the English
Channel,
and rapidly began to sink. The
crew had just time to get into the starboard
lifeboat and cut the painter, the
steamer's bridge-deck being then level with the
water line, when the lifeline
was found to be fastly
coiled round Mr. Thomson's
leg. Realising the danger of the boat being
capsized, Mr. Thomson at once
jumped overboard, thus freeing the boat, and
allowing her to be pushed away as
the vessel foundered.

While
under water Mr. Thomson managed to free his leg from
the lifeline, and he was afterwards picked up by
those in the boat. Mr. Thomson
ran the greatest possible risk of losing his life,
and by his self-sacrifice
undoubtedly prevented serious loss of life.

1
9 1 7

18
January 1917
- Lieutenant Frederick WEEKS RNR,
quayside rescue

The
London
Gazette 13
March 1917
(from the Admiralty, 12th
March, 1917)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal of the Second Class
on: —

Acting
Lieutenant Frederick William
Weeks, R.N.R.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred: —

On
the night of Thursday,
the 18th
January, 1917,
a member of the crew of one of his Majesty's Ships,
when returning from leave,
fell into the sea between the ship and the quay. The
matter was at once
reported to Acting Lieutenant Frederick William
Weeks, R.N.R., to whom it was
obvious that any attempt at rescue must be attended
by considerable danger. The
ship, which was kept clear of the side of the quay
by spar fenders of only nine
inches in diameter, was working to and fro with the
slight swell entering the
harbour. Moreover the man was incapable of helping
himself; he was of heavy
build and was wearing a uniform greatcoat. In view
of the risk to the rescuer
of being crushed between the ship and the quay,
Lieutenant Weeks decided that he
could not order a man down. He thereupon took a line
and went down himself. By
this time the man was almost unconscious. Lieutenant
Weeks managed to obtain a
hold of his hair and by this means kept him
sufficiently above water, whilst
wedging himself with his back against the quay with
his knees against the
ship's side. During this time he was mostly under
water, the temperature of
which was thirty-nine degrees. He succeeded in
securing a line round the man,
who was hauled on deck. The man was unconscious and
very nearly drowned when
brought on deck, and there is no doubt that, but for
Lieutenant Weeks' prompt
measures, he would have lost his life.

The
London
Gazette 7
September 1917
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal upon Mr. Edgar Twidle,
master, and Mr. William Francis Gordon Martin, chief
officer of the steamship Bayropea,
of London, and Mr. Robert MacBryde,
Admiralty clerk, temporarily employed as Commodore's
Secretary.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the. Decoration has been conferred; —

On
the
26th January, 1917,
a series of fires and explosions
occurred at Economia, port
of Archangel.
When Captain Twidle
arrived on the scene his ship was burning fiercely.
On being informed that the
Chief Engineer was alive, Captain Twidle
climbed on
board but found that he was dead.

He
then examined the other rooms and found a Chinese
sailor
in a dazed condition. With the assistance of Mr.
Martin and Mr. MacBryde
this man was got over the ship's side across the
ice, and eventually to the Red Cross station.

About
four minutes after the seaman had been removed the
vessel blew up.

The
London Gazette 23 April 1918 (from the Admiralty,
23rd April 1918)

The KING has been
graciously pleased to approve of the posthumous
award of the Albert Medal in Gold for gallantry in
saving life at sea to Commander Francis Herbert
Heaveningham Goodhart, D.S.O., R.N.

The account of the
services, in respect of which the medal has been
conferred, is as follows:—

Owing to an accident, one
of H.M. submarines sank and became fast on the
bottom in 38 feet of water, parts of the vessel
becoming flooded. After several hours the only
prospect of saving those remaining on board appeared
to be for someone to escape from the submarine in
order to concert measures with the rescuers, who
were by this time present on the surface. Commander
Goodhart (commanding officer of sister-boat
K.14), after consultation with the Commanding
Officer, volunteered to make the attempt.
Accordingly, after placing in his belt a small tin
cylinder with instructions for the rescuers,
Commander Goodhart went into the conning tower with
the Commanding Officer. The conning tower was
flooded up to their waists, and the high-pressure
air was turned on; the clips of the conning tower
were knocked off and the conning tower lid was soon
wide open. Commander Goodhart then stood up in the
dome, took a deep breath, and made his escape, but,
unfortunately, was blown by the pressure of air
against part of the superstructure, and was killed
by the force of the blow.

The Commanding Officer,
whose intention it had been to return inside the
submarine after Commander Goodhart's escape, was
involuntarily forced to the surface by the air
pressure, and it was thus rendered possible for the
plans for rescuing those still inside the submarine
to be carried out.

Commander Goodhart
displayed extreme and heroic daring in attempting to
escape from the submarine in order to save the lives
of those remaining on board, and thoroughly realised
the forlorn nature of his act. His last remark to
the Commanding Officer was: " If I don't get up, the
tin cylinder will."

The
London
Gazette 7
September 1917
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal upon John David
Bulmer, boatswain of the steamship Rhydwen,
of Cardiff,
and Private John Edward Brown, R.M.L.I.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:
—

On
the
31st January, 1917,
while the steamship Rhydwen
of Cardiff, was lying at
Genoa,
a fire broke out in the ship's
magazine. A fire signal was immediately hoisted, but
before assistance arrived
Bulmer and Brown went below, unlocked, the door of
the magazine and got the hose at the seat of the
fire. Water was then played on
the magazine and the ammunition was taken out on deck,
and, owing to the prompt action of the ship's crew,
the fire was extinguished.

Considerable
risk was incurred by Bulmer and Brown in
rendering the service.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal upon Acting
Quartermaster-Serjeant
James William Brown, Royal Army Medical Corps, SerjeantWilliam
Seymour, Northumberland
Fusiliers, and Privates Arthur Duff Hadden
Allan and
James Cuthbertson, of
the Royal Army Medical Corps
(T.).

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:
—

On
the morning of the
5th February,
1917,
a
serious explosion, followed by a fire, occurred on
the French troopship St.
Laurent
at Malta.
After some time it was observed
that three men in the forepart of the ship, where
the flames were fiercest,
were cut off from the rest. None of the boats near
would approach the ship
owing to the heat and danger of a further explosion,
until Acting
Quartermaster-Serjeant
Brown persuaded a Maltese
Policeman to row him out; but when within thirty
yards of the ship the
Policeman refused to go further. Brown returned, and
was then joined by
Seymour, Allan and Cuthbertson.
They rowed directly
to the forepart of the ship, the sides of which were
by this time red hot,
while the plates were falling into the sea.

When
they were within a few yards of the ship two of the
three men in the forepart jumped into the sea and
were rescued; the third, who
had climbed up the mast, was saved later when the
mast
fell.

The
London
Gazette 4
September 1917
(from the Admiralty, 3rd
September, 1917)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal on—

Artificer
Engineer (now Acting Mate
(E)) Edmund John Pysden,
R.N.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:

On
the morning of the
27th February,
1917,
one
of the auxiliary stop valves in one of H.M. Ships
accidentally burst, the
boiler room immediately becoming filled with dense
steam. In spite of the danger of burning and
suffocation from steam,
and of the fact that it was impossible to draw fires
or at once to lift the
safety valves, which rendered the possibility of a
second and even worse
accident highly probable, Mr. Edmund John Pysden,
Artificer Engineer, R.N., made several gallant
attempts to enter the stokehold,
and succeeded in bringing out two men who were lying
insensible on the stokehold
plates, and helped to bring out others. Several of
the survivors would
undoubtedly have lost their lives but for the rescues
effected by this officer and
others. Mr. Pysden also
eventually succeeded in
opening the safety valve, which relieved the
immediate danger of a further
accident. Although he had a wet rag tied over his
mouth, he swallowed a
considerable quantity of live steam, and was
partially incapacitated by its
effects. Notwithstanding the gallant efforts of Mr.
Pysden
and other members of the ship's company, three men
lost their lives owing to
the accident and nine were seriously injured.

The
London
Gazette 11
January, 1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal upon Private
Samuel Arnold Bodsworth,
Royal Army Medical Corps.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of which
the Decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
10th April, 1917,
His Majesty's Hospital Ship Salta
was sunk in Havre Roads.

His
Majesty's Ship Druid proceeded to render assistance
and
got alongside a swamped boat of the Salta.
All the occupants of the boat were
rescued except a Hospital Sister and Private Bodsworth.
The former was so exhausted that she was unable to
hold the ropes thrown to
her, and eventually became unconscious.

Although
he might have been rescued, Private Bodsworth
persisted in remaining in the boat with the
Sister, and, after she had fallen overboard and been
hauled back again, he
finally succeeded in placing a line round her body,
by means of which she was
hauled on board the Druid.

Very
considerable risk was incurred by Private Bodsworth
in rendering the service on account of the rough
sea which prevailed at the time.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal on:

Ernest
A. Pooley, Chief Motor
Mechanic, M.B. 1627.

Herbert
Powley, Deckhand, S.D.
1193.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:—

On
the
22nd April, 1917,
a violent explosion occurred on
board H.M. Motor Launch 431 while she was lying
alongside the jetty at the
Base.

The
after part of the vessel was wrecked, and it at once
became known that Sub-Lieutenant Charles W. Nash,
R.N.V.R., was buried beneath
the wreckage.

Chief
Motor Mechanic Pooley
and
Deckhand Powley, who
were on board their own vessel
lying at the jetty some fifty yards astern,
immediately hurried to the motor
launch, which was by that time burning fiercely. The
flames were every instant
drawing nearer to the spot where Sub-Lieutenant Nash
lay buried, and it was
clear that there was imminent danger of the after
petrol tanks exploding at any
moment. Regardless of the fact that this would mean
certain death to them, Powley
and Pooley jumped on
board
the vessel and succeeded in extricating
Sub-Lieutenant Nash from beneath the
wreckage and carrying him to the jetty. As they were
leaving the boat the whole
of the after part burst into flames, and, in all
probability, had they been
delayed for another thirty seconds all three would
have perished.

Deckhand
Powley, who led the way
on board the burning motor launch, had subsequently
to be sent to hospital
suffering from the effects of fumes.

The
London
Gazette 22
January 1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens,
21st
January, 1918)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration of the Albert Medal in Gold upon Mr.
Alfred William Furneaux,
a chief steward in the Mercantile Marine.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred:
—

In
April, 1917, the steamship in which Mr. Furneaux
was serving was torpedoed by the enemy, and a
Lascar, who was on the spot where certain deck
plates had buckled and broken,
had his legs so firmly caught
between the plates that he would have gone down with
the ship. Mr. Furneaux,
however, went to the man's assistance and managed
to get one leg out, but the other was nearly severed
through above the knee.
Finding it impossible to pull this leg out, Mr. Furneaux
amputated it with an ordinary clasp knife and then
carried the man to a boat.
When in the boat he dressed the wound as well as
possible, and gave the life
belt he was wearing to the wounded man. Mr. Furneaux
also rendered first aid in the boat to another
Lascar who was badly scalded.

Mr.
Furneaux was in imminent
danger
of losing his life in rendering the service.

3
July 1917
- Mr Alexander SPENCE, Master SS Shuna,
River Seine

The
London
Gazette 30
October 1917
(from the Board of Trade)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Decoration
of the Albert Medal upon Mr. Alexander Mclntyre
Spence,
master of the steamship Shuna,
of Glasgow.

The
following is an account of the services in respect
of
which, the Decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
3rd July, 1917,
while the steamship Shuna
was anchored in the River Seine, a fire broke out
among some cases of grenades which formed part of
the deck cargo.

Captain
Spence immediately hurried to the scene of the fire,
but by the time he reached the spot the cases were
well alight. With a few buckets
of water he succeeded in extinguishing the fire
before the first hose could be
started, and he then removed the charred cases.
Later on some others caught
alight, but the fire was got under by means of the
hose.

Considerable
risk was incurred by Captain Spence in
rendering the service, and his action undoubtedly
averted an explosion and thus
saved a great many lives.

The
London
Gazette 22
March, 1918
(from the Whitehall,
March
20, 1918)

His
Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to
award
the Edward Medal(see notes top left)
to Thomas Anderson and James Edward Tierney, late
members of the crew
of the Liverpool Salvage Association's vessel
Ranger, now in the temporary
service of the Admiralty, and to George Gale, late
foreman stevedore of the
Admiralty at Portland Dockyard, who unhappily lost
their lives under the
following circumstances: —

On
the 31st of August, 1917, during salvage operations
on
board the steamship Great City, the holds of which
were known to be heavily
charged with gas arising from decomposing grain, one
of the stevedore's men
noticed some pieces of wood floating towards the
pump and, contrary to strict
orders, went down in order to pick the wood up so as
to prevent the pump from
choking. While in the act of doing this, he was
overcome by gas and fell into
the water. Anderson, who had some time previously
suffered from gas poisoning,
and, therefore, knew the gravity of the risk, at
once went to his assistance
and succeeded in holding him up while a rope was
being sent down to him, but
before this could reach him he was also overcome and
fell into the water.
Tierney and Gale then went to the rescue, but both
were also overcome.

Anderson,
Tierney and Gale undoubtedly lost their lives in
an endeavour to save the lives of their fellow
workman.

The
London
Gazette 14
December, 1917
(from the Whitehall,
December
12, 1917)

The
KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal in
Gold
to Nicholas Rath,
Seaman, R.N.R., and the Albert
Medal to Richard Knoulton,
Ordinary Seaman, R.N., and
George Faucett Pitts
Abbott, Deckhand, R.N.R.
(Trawler Section), in recognition of their gallantry
in saving life in the
following circumstances: —

On
the 14th September, 1917, a seaplane collided with a
Poulsen mast and
remained wedged in it, the pilot (Acting
Flight Commander E. A. de Ville) being rendered
unconscious and thrown out of
his seat on to one of the wings.

The
three men above mentioned at once climbed up the
mast
for 100 feet, when Rath,
making use of the boatswain's
chair, which moves on the inside of the mast, was
hoisted up by men at the foot
of the mast to the place, over 300 feet from the
ground, where the seaplane was
fixed. He then climbed out on the plane, and held
the pilot until the arrival
of Knoulton and Abbott,
who passed the masthead
gantline out to him.

Having
secured the pilot with the gantline Rath,
with the assistance of Knoulton
and Abbott, lifted him from the plane to the inside
of the mast and lowered him
to the ground. The three men were very well aware of
the damaged and insecure
condition of the mast, which was bent to an angle
where the seaplane had become
wedged. One of the three supports of the mast was
fractured, and, so far as the
men knew, the mast or seaplane might at any time
have collapsed.

Ordinary
Seaman Richard Knoulton
and Deckhand George Abbot subsequently exchanged
their Albert Medal for George
Cross

3
October 1917
- Flight Lieutenant Edward DAVIS RNAS,
seaplane rescue

The
London
Gazette 18
December, 1917
(from the Admiralty)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to confer the
Albert
Medal on: —

Flight
Lieutenant Edward PeverallMeggs Davis, R.N.A.S.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
3rd October, 1917,
whilst carrying out a practice
flight, a seaplane, piloted by Flight Sub-Lieutenant
James Douglas Grant, fell
into the sea. The seaplane turned over and the pilot
was enclosed in the boat
under water.

Flight
Lieutenant Edward PeverallMeggs Davis immediately
flew a seaplane to the position of
the accident, made fast to the wreck, and dived
under the wreck in his uniform
and endeavoured to extricate Flight Sub-Lieutenant
Grant.

To
do this it was necessary for him to dive amongst and
struggle through the mass of wires and broken parts
of the wreck.
Notwithstanding the imminent danger of being caught
up amongst them, Lieutenant
Davis continued his efforts to get Flight
Sub-Lieutenant Grant out, until the
emergency boat arrived on the scene.

No
other help was at hand until the arrival of this
motor
boat, which at the time of the accident was about a
mile and a-half away.
Flight Lieutenant Davis risked his life in
endeavouring to save that of his
brother officer, as there was every chance of his
becoming caught under water
in the wires of the wreck.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of
which the Decoration has been conferred: —

On
the
10th October, 1917,
an alarm of fire was given in the
after magazine of one of H.M. Ships. Mr. Alfred
William Newman, Acting Mate,
R.N., who was on the upper deck, proceeded
to the
magazine as soon as he heard the alarm, and, seeing
smoke issuing from a box of
cordite, opened the lid and passed the cartridges on
to the upper deck, where
they were thrown overboard. One cartridge in the
middle of the box was very
hot, and smoke was issuing from the end.

It
is considered that, by his prompt and gallant
action, Mr.
Newman saved the magazine from blowing up and the
loss of many lives.

The
London
Gazette 26
March 1918
(from the Admiralty, 23rd
March, 1918)

(1)
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of
the
posthumous award of the Albert Medal in gold for
gallantry in saving life at
sea to Lieutenant-Commander (acting Commander) Tom
Kenneth Triggs,
R.N., and of the Albert Medal for gallantry in
saving life at sea to Able
Seaman William Becker, O.N. J. 5841.

The
account of the services, in respect of which these
medals have been conferred, is as follows: —

On
the
6th December, 1917,
the French steamer Mont
Blanc,
with a cargo of high explosives,
and the Norwegian steamer Imo,
were in collision in HalifaxHarbour.
Fire broke out on the Mont
Blanc
immediately after the collision,
and the flames very quickly rose to a height of over
100 feet. The crew
abandoned their ship and pulled towards the shore.

The
Captain of H.M.S. Highflyer,
which was about a mile away, at once sent off a boat
to see if anything could
be done to prevent loss of life, and Commander Triggs,
volunteering for this duty, immediately got into the
ship's whaler and pulled
to the scene. A tug and the steamboat of H.M.C.S. Niobe(above - prewar, transferred to RCN in 1910
(MQ/Anton))
were seen going there at the same time.

Commander
Triggs boarded the tug,
and finding it was impossible to do anything for the
Mont
Blanc,
decided to endeavour to get the
Imo away, giving directions accordingly to the tug.
He returned to the whaler,
and was pulling towards the bows of the Imo, which
was about 300 yards from the
Mont
Blanc,
to pass a line from her to the
tug, when a tremendous explosion occurred.

Of
the seven people in the whaler, one, Able Seaman
Becker,
was rescued alive on the Dartmouth
shore, whither he had swum; the
remainder perished.

It
is clear that after
communication with
the tug, Commander Triggs
and the rest of the boat's
crew were fully aware of the desperate
nature of the work they were
engaged in, and that by their devotion to duty they
sacrificed their lives in
the endeavour to save the lives of others.

(2)
The KING has further been graciously pleased to
approve
of the award of the Albert Medal for gallantry in
saving life at sea to Leading
Seaman Thomas N. Davis, O.N. J.I8334 (Dev.), and
Able Seaman Robert Stones,
O.N. J.29998 (Dev.).

The
account of the services in respect of which these
medals
have been conferred, is as follows: —

On
the
6th December, 1917,
the French steamer Mont
Blanc,
with a cargo of high explosives,
and the Norwegian steamer Imo, were in collision in
HalifaxHarbour.
Fire broke out on the Mont
Blanc
immediately after the collision,
and the flames very quickly rose to a height of over
100 feet. The crew
abandoned their ship and pulled to the shore. A few
minutes later a, tremendous
explosion took place, and the tug Musquash
was seen to
be on fire forward. The fire was increasing, and
there appeared to be a great
danger of her getting adrift, and being carried down
on to another vessel. As
the Musquash had a gun
and ammunition on board there
was danger of a further explosion and consequent
loss of life.

The
Captain of H.M.S. Highflyer(above - 2nd-class cruiser
sister ship HMS Hyacinth (NP)) hailed
a private tug and asked her to take the Musquash
in tow, but as they were unwilling to board the Musquash
to get her in tow, the tug was brought alongside
H.M.S. Highflyer.
Leading Seaman Davis and Able Seaman Stones
immediately volunteered, and having
been transferred by the tug to the burning Musquash,
which had by this time broken adrift, they secured a
line from her stern, by
means of which she was towed into midstream. The
line then parted, and Davis
and Stones passed another line from
the Musquash to the
pumping lighter Lee, which had
now arrived.

They
then both went forward to the burning part, and
succeeded in getting to the ammunition, which was by
this time badly scorched,
pulled it away from the flames and threw it
overboard. They then broke open the
door of the galley, which was on fire inside, to
enable the Lee to play her
hoses into it. They repeated the same thing with the
cabin.

By
their work they made it possible to subdue the fire
and
save further damage and loss of life. At any moment
whilst they were on board
the Musquash the
ammunition might have exploded.

Leading
Seaman Davis
subsequently exchanged Albert Medal for George
Cross.

The
KING has been pleased to award the Decoration of the
Albert Medal to John George Stanners,
Deckhand,
R.N.R., O.N. 17562 D.A., and to Rupert Walter Bugg,
Leading Deckhand, R.N.R., O.N. 5046 S.D., in
recognition of their gallantry in
the following circumstances: —

On
the
29th December, 1917,
some cotton waste, which had been
stored in a wooden cupboard in the Magazine of H.M.
Motor Launch No. 289,
caught fire from an unknown cause. On the fire being
discovered by the smell of
burning and by the issue of smoke from the Magazine
hatch, when opened,
Deckhand Stanners,
without hesitation, went down into
the Magazine and brought up a quantity of the
burning waste.

Leading
Deckhand Bugg, who was
in
Motor Launch No. 285, alongside No. 289, smelt
something burning, and on
observing Deckhand Stanners
coming up from the
Magazine with burning material, immediately went
down and extinguished the
remainder of the ignited cotton waste.

The
promptitude of action and the high courage shown by
these men in the face of very grave danger averted a
serious fire, and in all
probability saved both Motor Launches and the lives
of those on board.

The
KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal to
Acting Flight Commander Paul Douglas Robertson,
R.N.A.S., in recognition of his
gallantry in endeavouring to save life in February
last. The circumstances are
as follows: —

On
the
28th February, 1918,
a Seaplane got out of control and
spun to the ground. Acting Flight Commander
Robertson, the Observer, jumped
from the machine just before it reached the ground
and landed safely, as the
ground was marshy. The Pilot, Flight Lieutenant. H.
C. Lemon, was imprisoned in
the Seaplane, which, on striking the ground,
immediately burst into flames, and
notwithstanding that the vicinity of the Seaplane
was quickly a furnace of
blazing petrol, and that heavy bombs, a number of
rounds of ammunition, and the
reserve petrol tank were all likely to explode,
Acting Flight Commander
Robertson returned and endeavoured to extricate the
Pilot, and only desisted
when he had been so severely burned in the face,
hands and leg that his
recovery was for some time in doubt.

He
displayed the greatest gallantry, self- sacrifice
and
disregard of danger in his efforts to extricate the
Pilot.

The
KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal to
Flight Lieutenant Victor Albert Watson, R.N., and
the Albert Medal in Gold to
Air Mechanic, 1st Grade, Harold Victor Robinson and
Boy Mechanic Eric Edward
Steere, in recognition
of their heroic conduct in the
following circumstances: —

On
the occasion of an accident to one of His Majesty's
Airships, which resulted in a fire breaking out on
board her, Flight Lieutenant
Watson, who was the senior Officer on the spot,
immediately rushed up to the
car of the airship under the impression that one of
the crew was still in it,
although he was well aware that there were heavy
bombs attached to the airship
which it was impossible to remove owing to the
nearness of the fire, and which
were almost certain to explode at any moment on
account of the heat. Having
satisfied himself that
there was in fact no one in the
car, he turned away to render assistance elsewhere,
and at that moment one of
the bombs exploded, a portion of it shattering
Lieutenant Watson's right arm at
the elbow. The arm had to be amputated almost
immediately.

Air
Mechanic H. V. Robinson and Boy Mechanic E. E. Steere,
on the occasion of an accident to one of His
Majesty's airships which caused a fire to break out
on board her, approached
the burning airship without hesitation, extricated
the pilot and two members of
the crew, all of whom were seriously injured, and
then unclipped the bombs from
the burning car and carried them out of reach of the
fire. As the bombs were
surrounded by flames, and were so hot that they
scorched the men's hands as
they carried them, they must have expected the bombs
to explode.

(Gazetted
8
March 1918) - Trooper James MAGNUSSON
(posthumous),
New Zealand Mounted Rifles, saved life during
sinking of transport

(above -
troopship Aragon sinking off Alexandria 30
December 1917. This could possibly be the same
ship (JM))

The
London
Gazette 8
March 1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens,
7th
March, 1918)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to award the
Decoration
of the Albert Medal in recognition of the gallant
action of Trooper James
Werner Magnusson, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, in
saving life on the occasion of
the loss of a Transport.

Magnusson,
who was on the deck of the Transport, saw an
injured soldier struggling in the water, and
immediately dived overboard,
although there was a very rough sea, swam to his
assistance, and succeeded in
placing him in a boat. Magnussen
then returned to the
sinking ship and rejoined his unit. His life was
lost.

The
London
Gazette 25
March 1919
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to make a
posthumous
award of the Decoration of the Albert Medal in
recognition of the gallantry of
Mr. David Falconer, Chief Engineer of the Steamship
War Knight of London.

On
the
24th March, 1918
the British S.S. War Knight was
proceeding up Channel in convoy, in company with the
United States Oil Carrier
O. B. Jennings. About 2.30
a.m.
the War Knight struck the other
vessel on the starboard side abreast the bridge.
Flames and fumes of naphtha
appear to have spurted out of the O. B. Jennings,
rushed the whole length of
the War Knight, and set her on fire. The after part
of the O. B. Jennings also
was soon burning furiously and the ship's swung
together, the War Knight being
to leeward of the O. B. Jennings and consequently
completely enveloped in the
smoke, fumes and flames from the weather ship. Immediately
after
the collision flames swept across the top of the
engine-room through the
open skylight. Mr. Falconer stood in the
flames and shut the skylights
down to prevent the fire-from entering the
engine-room.

Later
on, when the third engineer and a fireman, who had
remained below, made their way on
deck, the former was severely burnt
and gassed, and Mr. Falconer dragged both men to a
place where there were less
flames and fumes, and then put them into the
engineers' messroom
with others whom he had collected from their bunks,
and by breaking the
skylight he assisted them all to get on the boat
deck. Finally, although he
could not swim, he took off his own lifebelt and put
it on the third engineer,
and did not leave the ship until he was satisfied
that
there were no others in need of assistance.

Mr.
Falconer displayed the greatest gallantry in
rendering
these services; but he was so injured that he
subsequently succumbed in
hospital.

March
1918
- Apprentice Reginald CLAYTON
(posthumous)

,
merchant ship collision and fire

The
London
Gazette 27
August 1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to make a
posthumous
award of the Decoration of the Albert Medal in
recognition of the gallantry of
Reginald Curtis Clayton, an apprentice in the
Mercantile Marine.

In
March last the steamship in which Mr. Clayton was
serving
was in collision, and a serious fire broke out on
board. Mr. Clayton was aft,
where the accommodation for the crew was situated.
It was his fire-station duty
to stand by the flood valve of the magazine; and, in
spite of the whole of the
deck being in flames, he groped his way through the
fire, found the valve, and
turned it on to flood. He received such severe
injuries that he succumbed in
hospital four days later.

Those
of the crew who survived no doubt owed their lives
to
the flooding of the magazine.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award
of the Albert Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at
Sea to Lieutenant-Commander
Keith Robin Hoare D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N.V.R., and
Lieutenant Arthur Gerald
Bagot, D.S.C., R.N.V.R.

The
account of the services in respect of which the
Decoration has been conferred is as follows: —

On
the
12th April, 1918,
an explosion took place in the
engine-room of H.M. Motor Launch 356, and the
forward tanks burst into flame.
The Officer and some of the crew were blown
overboard by the explosion, and the
remainder were quickly driven aft by the flames, and
were taken off in a skiff.
By this time the flames were issuing from the cabin
hatch aft, and there was
much petrol burning on the surface of the water. It
was then realised by the
crews of adjacent vessels that the aft petrol tanks
and the depth charge were
being attacked by the fire, and might explode at any
moment. At the moment when
others were running away, Lieutenant Hoare and
Sub-Lieutenant
Bagot jumped into their
dinghy, rowed to the wreck, got on
board, and removed the depth charge, thereby
preventing an explosion which
might have caused serious loss of life amongst the
crowd of English and French
sailors on the quay.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award
of the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life at
sea to Commander Walter
Henry CalthropCalthrop,
R.N.

The
account of the services in respect of which this
decoration has been conferred is as follows: —

On
the night of the 14th/15th April, 1918, a fire broke
out
on board the S.S. Proton, an ammunition ship, at Port
Said.
Commander Calthrop,
on being informed on the telephone that the ship was
on fire, immediately proceeded
to the scene. The ship had already been abandoned
by her crew, and was ablaze in Nos. 1 and 2 holds.
The forecastle was also alight,
and it was impossible to get down
to the fore well deck owing to the heat of the
flames. Knowing that the Proton
had 240 tons of ammunition on board, Commander Calthrop
decided to endeavour to flood the ship, and for this
purpose obtained
assistance and went down into the engine-room and
opened the sea inlet. He also
tried to break the main sea valve cover, but was not
successful in this. He
accordingly sent for a gun-cotton charge for the
purpose of sinking the ship,
and warned all ships in the vicinity to get under
weigh. He then returned to
the Proton, which was now blazing fiercely forward,
the sides being red hot as
far aft as the bridge, and the bridge screen all
alight. He again boarded her
with the first and second engineers and went below,
trying to break the doors
of the condenser with sledge hammers. After about
five minutes this was found
to be impossible, and they returned on deck. By this
time a picket boat had
arrived with the gun-cotton charge, and it was
decided that the ship ought to
be sunk as soon as possible. This operation was
accordingly carried out.

Commander
Calthrop displayed the
utmost gallantry and disregard of his own personal
safety in making protracted
efforts, first to flood and then to sink the ship,
whilst exposed to continual
risk of an explosion of the ammunition on board. His
efforts undoubtedly
prevented serious loss of life.

The
London
Gazette 23 May 1919
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to make a
posthumous
award of the Decoration of the Albert Medal in
recognition of the gallantry of
Hugh Brown, Boatswain of the steamship Orissa
of
Liverpool.

On
the
25th June, 1918,
the ship was torpedoed and sunk in
the North
Atlantic
Ocean,
six lives being lost.

The
explosion took place about twenty feet from the
store-room,
where some members of the crew, including Brown and
his son, who was the
Steward's Boy, were receiving their tobacco issue.
The store-room was
immediately flooded, but the Boatswain and his son
were able to fight their way
to the stairway leading to the weather deck, the
bottom stairs of which were
blown away.

The
boy managed to reach the weather deck, but Brown,
then
heard the Storekeeper, who was
still in the flooded store-room,
calling for help. As soon, therefore, as he had been
assured of his son's
safety, Brown wished the lad farewell, and, though
he could probably have saved
himself together with his son, turned back in the
hope of assisting the
Storekeeper. The water was continually rising, and
Brown must have been aware
that he had very little chance of being able to win
his way to the deck a
second time.

The
ship sank not long after, and neither the Boatswain
nor
the Storekeeper was seen again.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award
of the Albert Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at
Sea to Commodore Sir James Startin,
K.C.B., R.N.R. (Admiral, retired).

The
account of the services in respect of which the
Decoration has been conferred is as follows: —

An
explosion occurred on board H.M. Motor Launch 64, on
the
10th
June, 1918.
Immediately after the explosion Commodore Startin
proceeded alongside M.L. 64, the engine-room of
which was still burning
fiercely. On learning that the engineer was below,
he sprang down the hatch
without the slightest hesitation, and succeeded in
recovering the body
practically unaided. In view of the fact that the
bulkhead between the
engine-room and the forward tanks had been blown
down by the force of the
explosion, and that the fire was blazing upon the
side and on the top of the
forward tanks, which are composed of exceedingly
thin metal and were
consequently liable to burst at any moment, the
action of Commodore
Startin in entering the
engine-room before the fire was
subdued showed the utmost possible gallantry and
disregard of personal safety.
Had the engineer not been past human aid he would
undoubtedly have owed his
life entirely to the courage and promptitude of
Commodore Startin.

The
London
Gazette 20
September 1918
(from the Admiralty, 16th
September, 1918)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve the
award of
the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life at sea
to John Allan, Donkeyman,
M.M.R., No. 942760.

The
account of the services, in respect of which this
medal
has been conferred, is as follows: —

As
the R.F.A. Mixol was
dropping
alongside to fuel one of H.M. Battle Cruisers on the
19th
June, 1918,
an Able Seaman slipped and fell overboard between Mixol
and the Cruiser; Mixol
was only about ten feet clear
of the Cruiser, and was closing at the time.

Donkeyman
John Allan, who was standing on the
fore well deck of Mixol,
saw the man fall and that he
was struggling in the water. Although it was clear
that the man in the water
was in imminent danger of being crushed between the
two ships, Allan at once
jumped overboard in the clothes he was wearing to
save him. He assisted the
Able Seaman to keep afloat until a rope was thrown,
which he gave to him, the
Able Seaman being hauled on board before Allan took
the rope himself.

The
ship was in an open anchorage, and the temperature
of
the water was 50°.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award
of the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life at
sea to

Surg.-Lieut.
William Fryer
Harvey, R.N.

The
account of the services in respect of which this
decoration has been conferred is as follows: —

On
the
28th June, 1918,
two of H.M. torpedo-boat
destroyers were in collision, and Surg.-Lieut.
Harvey
was sent on board the more seriously damaged
destroyer in order to render
assistance to the injured. On hearing that a stoker
petty officer was pinned by
the arm in a damaged compartment, Surg.-Lieut.
Harvey
immediately went down and amputated the arm, this
being the only means of
freeing the petty officer. The boiler-room at the
time was flooded, and full of
fumes from the escaping oil. This alone constituted
a great danger to anyone in
the compartment, and Surg.-Lieut.
Harvey collapsed
from this cause after performing the operation, and
had to be hauled out of the
compartment. Moreover, at any time the ship might
have broken in two and all
hands were fallen in on deck, wearing lifebelts, at
the time, in order to be
ready for this eventuality. Surg.-Lieut.
Harvey
displayed the greatest gallantry and disregard of
his personal safety in
descending into the damaged compartment and
continuing to work there amidst the
oil fumes at a time when the ship was liable to
sink.

The
London
Gazette 11
October 1918
(from the Admiralty, 9th
October, 1918)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve the
award of
the Albert Medal to Charles Davie Millar, Leading
Seaman, O.N. 218811, in
recognition of his gallantry in the following
circumstances:—

On
the
29th June, 1918,
an outbreak of fire occurred on
board Motor Launch No. 483 whilst refuelling
alongside the jetty at Pembroke
Dock, the fire being caused by the ignition of an
overflow of petrol from the
hose.

Leading
Seaman Millar, H.M.S. P.C. 51, who was walking up
and down the forecastle of his ship, on seeing the
flames break out on the
upper deck of the motor launch, immediately slid
over the bows of his craft on
to the motor launch, rushed aft, and removed the
primers of the depth charges.
He then forced his way through the flames and kicked
the hose overboard,
getting his clothes ignited as he did so. Having
extinguished his burning
clothing by jumping overboard, he climbed inboard
again and assisted in getting
the motor launch in tow. This man displayed
initiative and disregard of danger,
and by his prompt action he probably averted a
serious accident. Had the depth
charges detonated, very great damage would have been
done and lives undoubtedly
lost.

The
KING has been
graciously pleased to approve of the award of the
Albert Medal for gallantry in
saving life at sea to Commander Henry de Beauvoir
Tupper, R.N., and Able Seaman Edward Thomas
Spalding, O.N. J55883 (Ch.).

The
account of the
services in respect of which these decorations have
been conferred is as
follows: —

Onthe
4th August, 1918,
H.M.S. Comet, under the command of Commander Tupper,
was seriously damaged in
collision. The ship was badly holed on the starboard
side, the deck and all
compartments eventually filled with water as far as
the engine-room bulkhead, and the
stern was at any
moment liable to fall off.

On
being informed
that the hydraulic release depth-charge was set to
fire, Commander Tupper sent
away a man in a whaler to remove the primer. It was
only possible to remove the
primer from one of the charges, leaving the other
depth-charge about 15 feet
under water, still at ''fire.'' Commander Tupper
then went away in a dinghy
himself, and by repeated diving operations tried to
render it safe. After a
rest he returned to complete the operation, in which
Able Seaman Spalding, who
was a passenger on the ship at the time and was a
good swimmer, volunteered to
assist. Commander Tupper at first refused to allow
Spalding to assist him, as
the latter had no knowledge of depth-charges, and
Commander Tupper did not
consider it safe for him to go down. Ultimately
Commander Tupper and Able
Seaman Spalding swam to the spot beneath which the
depth-charge was submerged,
and alternately gave a turn to the iron bar which
Commander Tupper had placed
in the handle, until the primer was eventually
unscrewed and taken out of the
depth-charge, thus rendering it safe. This operation
was of the most dangerous
nature, as at any moment the stern of the ship might
have dropped off before
the depth-charge was removed and would have carried
down both the officer and
the man, who would have inevitably lost their lives.
The explosion would also
have destroyed the remaining portion of the ship,
with loss of life to those of
the crew who were on board.

The
London
Gazette 30
August
1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens,
28th
August,
1918)

The
KING has been
graciously pleased to award the Decoration of the
Albert Medal upon Mr. Charles
McKenzie, a chief officer in the Mercantile Marine.

A
violent explosion,
followed by a fire, occurred in one of the holds of
the steamship in which Mr.
McKenzie was serving, which had a cargo of petroleum
and case oil. Four men
were in the hold at the time, and received serious
injuries.

Mr.
McKenzie, who was
on duty at the top of the hold, immediately rushed
down, regardless of the
possibility of further explosions, found the ship's
carpenter, and assisted him
to a sling, by means of which the man was hauled up
on deck. Mr. McKenzie then
searched the hold again and rescued a seaman in the
same way. Both men,
however, subsequently died of their injuries.

Mr.
McKenzie also
found the third man, who was badly burnt, and
assisted him to mount the ladder.
The fourth man managed to escape by his own
exertions.

(Gazetted
30 August 1918) - Second Engineer
Robert COULSON (posthumous)

,
saved life when ship torpedoed

The
London
Gazette 30
August
1918
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens,
28th
August,
1918)

The
KING has been
graciously pleased to make a posthumous award of the
Decoration of the Albert
Medal in recognition of the gallant conduct of Mr.
Robert Coulson,
a second engineer in the Mercantile Marine. The
steamship in which Mr. Coulson
was serving was struck by a torpedo in the
stokehold. The engine-room became full of escaping
steam, and Mr. Coulson
and the fourth engineer were seriously scalded.
Instead of making for safety, however, Mr. Coulson,
in spite of his injuries, carried the fourth
engineer, who was in a helpless
condition, up the engine-room ladders to the top
platform, out of immediate
danger of steam and the inrush of water, and he then
himself became exhausted.

The
chief engineer,
who had run to the engine-room from the bridge,
assisted both the injured men
out of the engine-room, and with help managed to get
them into a lifeboat After
being landed they were taken to hospital, where both
succumbed to their injuries.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award
of the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life
at sea to: —

Lieutenant George Devereux Belben,
D.S.C., R.N.,

Sub-Lieutenant David Hywel
Evans, R.N.V.R.

P. O. Albert Ernest Stoker, O.N. 227692,

and

Able Seaman Edward Nunn, O.N. J.15703.

The account of the services, in
respect of
which these decorations have been conferred, is as
follows: —

Onthe
16th
September, 1918, a serious explosion occurred amidships on board H.M.S. Glatton
whilst lying in DoverHarbour.
This was followed immediately by
an outbreak of fire, the oil fuel burning
furiously and spreading fore and aft.

Efforts were made to extinguish the
fire by
means of salvage tugs. The foremost magazines were
flooded, but it was found
impossible to get to the after magazine flooding
positions. The explosion and
fire cut off the after part of the ship, killing
or seriously injuring all the
officers who were on board with one exception. The
ship might have blown up at
any moment.

Lieutenant Belben,
Sub Lieutenant Evans, Petty Officer Stoker,
and Able Seaman Nunn were in boats which were
rescuing men who had been blown,
or who had jumped, overboard. They proceeded on
board H.M.S. Glatton
on their own initiative,
and entered the superstructure, which was full of
dense smoke, and proceeded
down to the deck below.

Behaving with the greatest gallantry
and
contempt of danger, they succeeded in rescuing
seven or eight badly injured men
from the mess deck, in addition to fifteen whom
they found and brought out from
inside the superstructure.

This work was carried out before the
arrival of
any gas masks, and, though at one time they were
driven out by the fire, they
proceeded down again after the hoses had been
played on the flames. They
continued until all chance of rescuing others had
passed, and the ship was
ordered to be abandoned, when she was sunk by
torpedo, as the fire was
spreading, and it was impossible to flood the
after magazines.

The KING has been graciously pleased
to approve
of the award of the Albert Medal for gallantry in
saving life at sea to—

Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander Edward
Leicester
Atkinson, D.S.O., R.N.

The account of the services, in
respect of
which this decoration has been conferred, is as
follows:—

On the
16th
September, 1918, a serious explosion occurred amidships on board H.M.S. Glatton
whilst lying in DoverHarbour.
This was followed immediately by
an outbreak of fire, the oil fuel burning
furiously and spreading fore and aft.
Efforts were made to extinguish the fire by means
of salvage tugs. The foremost
magazines were flooded, but it was found
impossible to get to the after
magazine flooding positions. The explosion and
fire cut off the after, part of
the ship, killing, or seriously injuring all the
Officers who were on board
with one exception. The ship might have blown up
at any moment.

At the time of the explosion Surgeon
Lieut. -
Commander Atkinson was at work in his cabin. The
first explosion rendered him
unconscious. Recovering shortly, he found the flat
outside his cabin filled
with dense smoke and fumes. He made his way to the
quarter deck by means of the
ladder in the Warrant Officers flat, the only one
still intact. During this
time he brought two unconscious men on to the
upper deck, he himself being uninjured.

He returned to the flat, and was
bringing a
third man up, when a smaller explosion occurred
whilst he was on the ladder.
This explosion blinded him, and, at the same time,
a piece of metal was driven
into his left leg in such, a manner that he was
unable to move until he had
himself extracted it. Placing the third man on the
upper deck, he proceeded
forward through the shelter deck. By feel, being
totally unable to see, he here
found two more unconscious men, both of whom he
brought out.

He was found later on the upper deck
in an
almost unconscious condition, so wounded and burnt
that his life was despaired
of for some time.

The
London
Gazette 7 January 1919
(from the Admiralty, 7th January, 1919)

The KING has been graciously pleased
to approve
of the award of the Albert Medal for gallantry in
saving life at sea to Actg.
Lieut. Harry Melville Arbuthnot
Day, R.M.L.I.

The account of the services in respect of
which
the decoration has been awarded is as follows: —

Onthe
9th
November, 1918, H.M.S. Britannia was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. The
explosion of the torpedo was followed by another
and more violent explosion of
ammunition, and fires were started, resulting in
the spread of smoke and fumes.

Shortly after the explosion
Lieutenant Day went
down to the ward room, to search for wounded. He
heard groaning forward of the
ward room, but found that the heavy wooden door
leading forward had jammed and
was immovable. He then burst open the trap hatch
to the ward room pantry and
climbed through it. He discovered Engineer
Lieutenant Stanley F. Weir, R.N.,
and a ward room steward alive and conscious, but
unable to move. Fearing that
he would hurt them if he endeavoured to drag them
through the trap hatch
single-handed, he climbed back into the ward room
aft and up on to the
quarter-deck and procured two or three stokers,
with whom he returned to the
ward room, and eventually carried the dying
officer and man on deck and to the
forecastle. During his first visit to the ward
room, Lieutenant Day was alone,
in the dark, the ship with a list, and fire close
to the 12in
magazine. Whilst carrying out this rescue work he
inspected all scuttles and
deadlights in the ward room (and cabins before it)
and ascertained that all
were properly closed before leaving. The cordite
fumes were very strong, and
his life was in danger throughout. His courage and
resource were beyond praise.

The
London
Gazette 18th March 1919
(from the Board of Trade, WhitehallGardens)

The KING has been graciously pleased
to confer
the Decoration of the Albert Medal upon
Christopher Feetham,
fireman, of the steamship Hornsey, of London.
On the 10th November last, while
the s.s.
Hornsey was lying at Sunderland,
a fire broke out in the mess-room
and adjoining saloon. A quantity of ammunition was
on board, and there was
accordingly a great risk, if it exploded, of loss
of life and property, as the
effects of the explosion would probably not have
been confined to the shipping
in the harbour, but would have spread to the quay.

The whole of the ship's company
behaved
admirably in the emergency; and the Master, Chief
Engineer, Second Mate,
Steward and one of the Gunners did exceptionally
well in their efforts to get
the fire under. The decisive factor, however, in
extinguishing it and saving
life and property was the heroism of Feetham.
He volunteered to be let down into the cabin, and
there, waist-high in water,
he was able to direct his hose on to that part of
the fire which would have
exploded the ammunition in a very short time. As
it was, some of the ammunition
cases were already scorched.

It was at the greatest risk of his
own life
that, after a long series of attempts, in
conjunction, with other members of
the crew, at extinguishing the outbreak, he went
down alone to make a last
effort, which happily was successful, and he
undoubtedly saved a very large
number of lives by his exceptional courage.

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award of the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving
life at sea to:

Lieutenant
David Wainwright, R.N.

The
account of the services in respect of which this
decoration has been conferred is as follows:

On
the 4th February, 1919, H.M.S. Penarth struck a mine
and immediately began to sink. Lieutenant David
Wainwright, taking command of the situation, at once
superintended the manning and lowering of the
starboard gig, and later the launching of the Carley
floats. Hearing there was a stoker injured in one of
the stokeholds, he called for volunteers to show him
the way, and at once made his way forward. There was
by now a heavy list on the ship, and it was apparent
she would not remain afloat much longer, the upper
deck on the starboard side being already awash.
Lieutenant Wainwright made his way below unaided,
and while he was in the stokehold the ship struck a
second mine abaft of him. The forepart was blown off
and sank, and he was forced to wait till the
stokehold had filled before he could float to the
surface up the escape.

He
displayed the greatest gallantry and disregard, of
his own personal safety in going below at a time
when the ship was liable to sink at any moment.

15
July 1919 - Lieutenant-Commander Richard SCOTT
RN, HMS Myrtle, mined and sunk in Gulf of
Finland (HMS Myrtle was an Azalea-class fleet
sweeping sloop. Above is HMS Chrysanthemum,
Anchusa-class convoy sloop of similar appearance,
both members of the Flower-type, but Myrtle had
two funnels (MQ))

The
London Gazette 12 March 1920 (from the Admiralty,
S.W.)

The
KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the
award of the Albert Medal to Lieutenant-Commander
Richard James Rodney Scott, R.N., for gallantry in
endeavouring to save life at sea.

The
following is the account of the services in respect
of which the decoration has been conferred: —

On
the 15th July, 1919, during minesweeping operations
in the Baltic, four mines were swept up which H.M.S.
Myrtle, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Scott, and
another vessel were ordered to sink.

During
the operations the two vessels were mined, and
H.M.S. Myrtle immediately began to sink. So great
was the force of the explosion that all hands in the
engine room and after boiler room of the ship were
killed with one exception, and many others of the
crew were wounded.

After
the wounded had been successfully transferred to
another vessel, the forepart of H.M.S. Myrtle broke
away and sank. Lieutenant-Commander Scott, hearing
that the fate of one of the crew of the Myrtle had
not been definitely ascertained, gallantly returned
alone to what was left of the ship, which was
drifting through the minefield, rolling heavily and
burning fiercely, and regardless of the extreme risk
which he ran, made a thorough search for the missing
man, unfortunately without success.

Photographs
are courtesy of the following sites and contributors
to whom I am indebted: